Reviews of films and television formats. Short or long.
Shadowzone (1990) – Director: J.S. Cardone – 3/10 (very mediocre/bad) Appealing as it may seem at a glance, the sci-fi outing simply proves too impaired by its technical defects and poor production values all around. These deficiencies manifest themselves most painfully in its sordid, tawdry sets certain parts of which […]
Midnight Killer (1986) (orig. Morirai a mezzanotte) – Director: Lamberto Bava – 6/10 (good)One could argue Midnight Killer essentially constitutes a budget version of Dario Argento’s Tenebre: though it is nowhere as visually sophisticated as the original, most of its elements ultimately coalesce into a perfectly serviceable and adequate whole. […]
Screamers (1995)] / Director: Christian Duguay – 7/10 (very good) – While it is kind of hard to deny that some of the film’s content feels rather cheesy, especially towards the end and in the course of its denouement, most of that is pretty much negated by the fairly sturdy […]
Deep Space (1988) – Director: Fred Olen Ray – 2/10 (very bad)This is basically a low-budgeted rip-off of The Thing (1982), The Blob (1988) and Alien (1979), but without any finesse or sophistication exhibited by these classics. From the very get-go, the motion picture bears all the hallmarks of cheap […]
Shocking Dark (1989) (orig. Terminator 2) – Director: Bruno Mattei – 1/10 (atrocious)The feature would have come out way more agreeable had it not set out to unabashedly copy Aliens and The Terminator in the first place, paying subtle homage to Cameron’s films instead; the flick goes so far as […]
The Witches Mountain (1973) (orig. El monte de las brujas) – Director: Raúl Artigot – 3/10 (very mediocre/bad)Though the work apparently undertakes to set up the right mood by introducing multiple longueurs and by applying certain ellyptical gambits, evidently essaying to emphasize the supernatural nature of its tale, the said […]
Danger Route (1967) – Director: Seth Holt – 6/10 (good)The motion picture represents more of a John Le Carre style spy thriller, eschewing the jubilant, playful disposition of the James Bond rip-offs of the era and thereby, opting for the more cynical approach instead. The film is executed in a […]
Star Odyssey (1979) (orig. Sette uomini d’oro nello spazio) – Director: Alfonso Brescia – 2/10 (very bad)The movie conceivably could have worked providing that it had moved at a tolerable pace and displayed its psychotronic qualities more imaginatively; predictably enough though, the motion picture begins to stagnate and decompose about […]
The Deep (1977) – Director: Peter Yates – 8/10 (excellent) This is old-school filmmaking at its finest: not only is it most likely one of the most successful straight treasure hunt adventures to have been put on celluloid, but also an astounding technical feat with some of the most impressive […]
Intimidation (1960) – Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara – 7/10 (very good)Kurahara’s grip on the narrative is quite impressive and it is pretty astonishing he manages to wedge as much material as he does into the frugal, barely-over-60-minute-long Nikkatsu framework. The director outfits the taut, suspenseful film noir with the highly acerbic […]